AutoCAD
Dr. Manjaiah M
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
National Institute of Technology Warangal
Manjaiah.m@[Link]
What is AutoCAD?
• AutoCAD - Automatic Computer Aided Design
• It is a CAD software application for 2D and 3D
design and drafting.
• Made by company named 'Autodesk'.
AutoCAD basic screen
• Home Tab
• The Command Window
• New Drawings
Create Your Own Drawing Template File
• 4.3 VIEWING
• You can save any drawing (.dwg) file as a drawing template
(.dwt) file. You can also open any
• existing drawing template file, modify it, and then save it
again with a different filename if needed.
• Units
When you first start a drawing, you need to
decide what the length of one unit represents—
an inch, a foot, a centimeter, a kilometer, or
some other unit of length.
Precision: 0.0000; 0.0; 0.00
LIMITS
• You can limit the window size depending on
the size of the diagram.
• For Examples: 0,0 297, 210
• 0,0 500,300
Commands
• Tool Bar
• Pull Down
• KEY COMMANDS
• Key Sequences: Always look at the command
line
– At the bottom of the page
– Always be as specific as possible
Dimensions
Create a Text Style
• You can create general notes using the MTEXT command (or
enter MT in the Command window), which stands for
multiline
text. The multiline text tool is available on the Annotation
panel.
Object Snaps
• The Object Snaps (Osnaps for short) are drawing aids which
are used in conjunction with other commands to help you
draw accurately.
• Osnaps allow you to snap onto a specific object location when
you are picking a point
Planning a drawing
• When you are drawing, take a few moments
to consider how you will construct each part
of the drawing before starting work.
• There is always more than one way to draw
anything in AutoCAD but the quickest, most
accurate and the most efficient way always
requires the use of one or more of the Osnap
tools
Line
Modify Commands
• The modify tools (from left to right):
Erase, Copy, Mirror, Offset, Array, Move,
Rotate, Scale, Stretch, Lengthen, Trim,
Extend, Break at point, Break, Chamfer, Fillet,
Explode
Erase, Copy, Mirror
• Erase - Select this button then a drawing element to
erase it permanently from the drawing.
• Copy - The copy command will copy any selected
drawing elements and reposition where specified
by the user, without affecting the original elements.
• Mirror - The mirror command will create a mirror
image of any selected drawing elements along any
line of symmetry specified by the user.
Mirror
Array
• The array command quickly creates copies of a
selected object(s) to a specified spacing.
– Rectangular Array
– Polar Array
Polar Array
Move, Rotate & Scale
• The move command works exactly the same as the copy
command described above, except instead of creating a
copy of the selected objects, the second objects are
moved.
• The rotate command rotates any selected objects about
a defined point by the angle specified. By default
Autocad will rotate objects anticlockwise when an angle
is entered.
• The scale command scales the size of a selected object(s)
by a defined scale factor from a selected base point. The
selected objects can be scaled up to increase size or
down to reduce the size.
Trim & Extend
• The trim command is an extremely useful tool which
will erase all parts of an object beyond or within its
intersection with another object.
• The extend command is similar to the trim command
in how it functions, except it extends a selected line
to a point of intersection of another selected object.
Chamfer & Fillet
• The chamfer command will chamfer the intersection of two
lines to a specified distance.
• The fillet command is very similar to the chamfer command
above, except instead of creating a straight line chamfer,
AutoCAD creates a radius between the two points.
Explode & Zoom
• The explode command is very straight
forward. It simply breaks down an object
down to its basic line entities.
• AutoCAD's zoom command toolbar.
Layer
– A layer can be thought of as a large piece of clear
plastic, as infinitely large as the drawing area in
AutoCAD.
– When drawing in AutoCAD, everything is drawn on
the default layer which is set current.
– Only the objects you are drawing are visible on
the layer, the layer itself can never be seen - it is
invisible.
– Each new layer is created by you, the user.
Normally, it is acceptable to have a layer for each
different part of a drawing.
Layers cont…
• Layers are controlled by the layer properties manager
button which is located on the object properties toolbar
Thank you
